Garments in general, especially dress shirts, are often folded prior to being displayed for sale, or following the dry cleaning or laundry process. In the case of, for example, shirts that are put on sale, folded shirts are stacked or arranged in a manner which provides potential customers with an opportunity to visually select a shirt of choice. The customers may then either try on the selected shirt in a designated changing room, or alternatively, upon knowledge of their size (e.g., shirt size), proceed to buy the shirt. In either case, the shirt or garment may be folded using various fastening means, such as pins and/or other potentially sharp objects. These fastening items are used to hold various parts of a garment such as a shirt together for the purpose of facilitating the folding process. The primary objective, among others, for folding shirts using these fastening items, is to ensure that the shirt can be stored or arranged in an orderly manner, whereby efficient use of storage and display space is utilized. Also, by correctly folding a shirt or garment, it is less likely to become creased or wrinkled. In the case of dry cleaned or laundered garments (e.g., shirts), folding the shirts with various fastening means helps maintain each garment's ironed appearance, thus prohibiting it from becoming creased or wrinkled prior to a person wearing it.
Prior to trying on or deciding to wear a particular folded garment, fastening means such as pins become invariably scattered around either the dressing room floor of a store, or various locations (e.g., bedroom floor, bathroom, bed, etc.) within a person's home, as the shirt is unfolded for use. Consequently, there is a potential risk of someone stepping on these fastening items. Moreover, in addition to stepping on these items, young children may find and ingest them, further adding to the need to safely store and remove these fastening items from harms way.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to safely store fastening items as they are removed from shirts and garments.
It is yet another object of the present invention to safely store fastening items from a garment utilizing means that aid the shaping and folding of the garment from which the fastening items were removed.
It is also a further object of the present invention to provide a means for recycling fastening items associated with a garment.